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Paper Clay Air Humidifier

maximelouis.com

1–10 of 73 posts

Re: Paper Clay Air Humidifier

#2
This is a very good idea, it uses no external energy and can potentually last forever. It’s a very simple and efficient thing. The only thing that I wonder is if this could be washed and whether mold can form in the pores. My ultrasonic steam humidifier can be easily cleaned but it makes an audible sound that happens to not bother me.

Re: Paper Clay Air Humidifier

#4

This is a very good idea, it uses no external energy and can potentually last forever. It’s a very simple and efficient thing. The only thing that I wonder is if this could be washed and whether mold can form in the pores. My ultrasonic steam humidifier can be easily cleaned but it makes an audible sound that happens to not bother me.

What I was wondering too. Especially with the rough surface and slits in the back. Maybe putting a small amount of Bleach in the water would prevent it.

Re: Paper Clay Air Humidifier

#6
This is an art project and nothing more.

Humidifying only 600 square feet, the size of a studio apartment, takes about 5 gallons of water per day in winter. [1]

The reservoir on this object looks to be no more than two gallons, and I would be truly shocked if it requires even daily refilling. If it actually moved enough water to make a difference, it would be a fundamentally flawed design in requiring multiple complete fillings per day, carting entire gallons to it (as you can't simply take the reservoir to the faucet). In fact however, I would be shocked if it made any measurable difference at all.

It speaks volumes that no information about the rate of water consumption and no measurement figures of RH are present on the page.

1: https://www.generalfilters.com/support/humidity-calculator.h... (settings: St Louis MO values for outside temperature and humidity. Inside 74, 50%, 8' ceilings, standard 0.5 air changes, 1 fireplace)

Re: Paper Clay Air Humidifier

#7

Be really careful with humidifiers. I cranked mine up too much and it caused a mold issue in my home, and mold in my home caused me health issues.

I don't think it would be possible for a passive unit like this to do such a thing.

With ultrasonic or warm mist (steam) humidifiers you can over-humidify the air.

Re: Paper Clay Air Humidifier

#8
Here’s an idea I had for a humidifier. It simply tumbles thousands of tiny beads through tumbler with water at the bottom. Since the sheer number of small beads creates a huge surface area you’d get a bunch of evaporation.

Cool right? Feel free to use this idea as prior art.

Re: Paper Clay Air Humidifier

#9
post #6

This is an art project and nothing more. Humidifying only 600 square feet, the size of a studio apartment, takes about 5 gallons of water per day in winter. [1] The reservoir on this object looks to be no more than two gallons, and I would be truly shocked if it requires even daily refilling. If it actually moved enough water to make a difference, it would be a fundamentally flawed design in requiring multiple comple…

I think it would depend a lot on how much air is moving over it, and the temperature of that air. The surface area of it is pretty large (the whole thing is pretty ginormous also...). The reservoir size is an issue.

I share skepticism about this being used in any serious way. An ultrasonic humidifier is going to be smaller, probably cheaper, and run laps around it in terms of output.

Re: Paper Clay Air Humidifier

#10
post #8

Here’s an idea I had for a humidifier. It simply tumbles thousands of tiny beads through tumbler with water at the bottom. Since the sheer number of small beads creates a huge surface area you’d get a bunch of evaporation. Cool right? Feel free to use this idea as prior art.

There is a similar concept where you have a stack of plastic discs half submerged in a water reservoir. The axis of the disc stack sits parallel with the surface of the water. The discs are rotated so their surface is always wet. Air is blown over them. This passively humidifies the air, and won't over-humidify since as the RH rises the amount of water that will passively evaporate goes down. These units are sometimes also called "air washers" since small particles can get stuck to the surface of the wet discs and come off in the reservoir. I've owned two, and can confirm they do pull stuff out of the air.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=venta+air+washer&iax=images&ia=ima...

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/282057161748-0-1/s-l1000.jpg

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